Showing results for "mantle"

• a variation of mantel.

Jump To:

• mantle
  mantle

  noun

  a loose, sleeveless cloak or cape.
• Mantle
  Mantle

  noun

  Mickey (Charles), 1931–95, U.S. baseball player.

mantle

¹ American  

[man-tl] / ˈmæn tl /

noun

mantles plural

1. a loose, sleeveless cloak or cape.

2. something that covers, envelops, or conceals.

   The well-known street was made unfamiliar by the mantle of darkness.

   Synonyms:

   cloak, screen, blanket, cover, veil

3. Geology. the portion of the earth, about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) thick, between the crust and the core.

4. a role or position, or the activities and responsibilities that come with that role or position.

   The founder's granddaughter assumes the mantle of CEO this month.

   We're hopeful that ordinary citizens will take up the mantle of climate activism.

5. Zoology. a single or paired outgrowth of the body wall that lines the inner surface of the valves of the shell in mollusks and brachiopods.

6. a chemically prepared, incombustible network hood for a gas jet, kerosene wick, etc., that, when the jet or wick is lighted, becomes incandescent and gives off a brilliant light.

7. Ornithology. the back, scapular, and inner wing plumage of a bird, especially when of the same color and distinct from other plumage.

8. a construction framing the opening of a fireplace; mantel.

9. Metallurgy. a continuous beam set on a ring of columns and supporting the upper brickwork of a blast furnace in such a way that the brickwork of the hearth and bosh may be readily replaced.

---

verb (used with object)

mantles, present (3rd person singular) mantled, past participle, past mantling present participle

1. to cover with or as if with a cloak or cape; envelop; conceal.

   The peak of the mountain was mantled by clouds.

verb (used without object)

mantles, present (3rd person singular) mantled, past participle, past mantling present participle

1. to spread or cover a surface.

   Behold the mercy of God mantling over all the earth.

2. to flush; blush.

3. (of a hawk) to spread out one wing and then the other over the corresponding outstretched leg.

4. to be or become covered with a coating, as a liquid; foam.

   The champagne mantled in the glass.

Mantle ² American  

[man-tl] / ˈmæn tl /

noun

1. Mickey (Charles), 1931–95, U.S. baseball player.

2. (Robert) Burns, 1873–1948, U.S. journalist.

---

mantle British  

/ ˈmæntəl /

noun

1. archaic a loose wrap or cloak

2. such a garment regarded as a symbol of someone's power or authority

   he assumed his father's mantle

3. anything that covers completely or envelops

   a mantle of snow

4. a small dome-shaped or cylindrical mesh impregnated with cerium or thorium nitrates, used to increase illumination in a gas or oil lamp

5. Also called: pallium.  zoology

   1. a protective layer of epidermis in molluscs that secretes a substance forming the shell

   2. a similar structure in brachiopods

6. ornithol the feathers of the folded wings and back, esp when these are of a different colour from the remaining feathers

7. geology the part of the earth between the crust and the core, accounting for more than 82% of the earth's volume (but only 68% of its mass) and thought to be composed largely of peridotite See also asthenosphere

8. a less common spelling of mantel

9. anatomy another word for pallium

10. a clay mould formed around a wax model which is subsequently melted out

---

verb

1. (tr) to envelop or supply with a mantle

2. to spread over or become spread over

   the trees were mantled with snow

3. (tr) (of the face, cheeks) to become suffused with blood; flush

4. (intr) falconry (of a hawk or falcon) to spread the wings and tail over food

mantle Scientific  

/ măn′tl /

1. The layer of the Earth between the crust and the core. It is about 2,900 km (1,798 mi) thick and consists mainly of magnesium-iron silicate minerals, such as olivine and pyroxene. It has an upper, partially molten part, which is about 660 km (409 mi) thick, and a lower, solid part. The upper mantle is the source of magma and volcanic lava.

2. The layer of soft tissue that covers the body of a clam, oyster, or other mollusk and secretes the material that forms the shell.

---

mantle Cultural  

1. The region of the interior of the Earth between the core (on its inner surface) and the crust (on its outer).

---

Discover More

The mantle is more than two thousand miles thick and accounts for more than three-quarters of the volume of the Earth.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unmantled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mantles
  plural

Participles

• mantling
  present
• mantled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mantle
  simple
• mantles
  simple
• have mantled
  perfect
• has mantled
  perfect
• am mantling
  progressive
• are mantling
  progressive
• is mantling
  progressive
• have been mantling
  perfect progressive
• has been mantling
  perfect progressive

Past

• mantled
  simple
• had mantled
  perfect
• was mantling
  progressive
• were mantling
  progressive
• had been mantling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mantle
  simple
• will have mantled
  perfect
• will be mantling
  progressive
• will have been mantling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mantle

First recorded before 900; Middle English mantel, Old English mæntel, from Latin mantellum

Explanation

A mantle is a word for something that blankets over something else, like the loose cloak worn by Little Red Riding Hood or the layer of earth between the crust and core. Mantle is something that envelops and covers, like a tree covered in a mantle of snow. The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra said, “Blessings on him who invented sleep, the mantle that covers all human thoughts.” Here, sleep is described as a mantle blanketing over the mind. Mantel is a variation of mantle, but it very specifically describes the shelf above a fireplace.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mantle Mantle mantles mantled mantling

The mantle is largely made of a rock called peridotite.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

A mantle plume ascending from deep within the mantle whose constituent material differs chemically from the surrounding mantle and may include components derived from ancient oceanic crust.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Seismic waves tend to slow down when they pass through rocks that are hotter, less rigid, fractured, or chemically different from typical mantle material.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

With Knight following Beaumont into retirement, it is a further indication that England are in transition, in need of new stars like Alice Capsey, Grace Scrivens and Tilly Corteen-Coleman to pick up the mantle.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

We even sold the green marble mantle clock with the twin brass cupids.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

A companion paper examining the gravity and ejecta structure of the basin, "Gravity Mapping of Lunar Mantle Material in South Pole-Aitken Basin Ejecta," was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026

“I began acting at age 10, when my dad was up for a role in ‘Safe at Home!’—a comedy with the Yankees’ Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026

Mantle cell lymphoma is rare and affects white blood cells called B lymphocytes.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

I began acting at age 10, when my dad was up for a role in “Safe at Home!”—a comedy with the Yankees’ Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026

I shared this insight into reading Shakespeare with Meryl Lee—who, by the way, was not going to move, who now knew who Mickey Mantle was, and who had memorized the entire Yankee roster.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

To my knowledge, Carney’s creator is neither crook nor salesman, but Whitehead can lay claim to those other two mantles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

He has shown an interest, perhaps un-Spurs-like, in seizing mantles like league MVP and being the future “face” of the sport.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

“Uranus and Neptune have disordered magnetic fields because they produce these fields in a thin water-rich layer in their mantles while our Earth generates its magnetic field in the core,” Militzer said.

From Salon ● Dec. 1, 2024

Unlike most animals, whose eyes feature retinas that send images to the brain, scallops have mantles covered with hundreds of tiny blue dots, each of which contains a curved mirror at its back.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 13, 2023

She shrugged, then helped Mama fill the bureau, hang five white Marvellian mantles in her private closet, and place a pot of conjure-roses on her bedside table.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

And even as blue skies return, the flood-weary farmers have only to look east, to the towering Sierra mantled in historic layers of snow, to know there is worse to come.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2023

But low methylation — Bad Karma — results in mantled fruit.

From Nature ● Mar. 14, 2017

Mateo has also studied golden mantled ground squirrels, which recognize kin but don't react in an obvious way.

From National Geographic ● Jul. 25, 2015

Chorizo is mantled with a parsley-heavy chimichurri and an unexpectedly nuanced aioli made with aji panca, a smoky-fruity Peruvian red pepper.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2013

They climbed Parnassos’ rugged flank mantled in forest, entering amid high windy folds at noon when Helios beat upon the valley floor and on the winding Ocean whence he came.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

As he gobbled the bloody morsel, he spread his wings, fanned his tail and arched his body over the food — an instinct known as mantling, protecting the prey from other predators.

From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2018

The hawklet then covered the entire meal with his wings, a behavior known as mantling, which hawks employ to hide their kills from other birds of prey who might be flying by.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2017

For some time she had experienced the sensation of clouds coming over her, mantling thought.

From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2016

He saw the superb polish, the fresh padding, and the new mantling set behind.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

He lifted the helm to his nose and sniffed the mantling.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• veil